The Phil Silvers Show 3.03

Hillbilly Whiz

Bilko has bet money on his platoon's baseball team but they stink. The platoon's fortunes turn around when Private Lumpkin is transferred to Bilko's platoon. He's an ace pitcher from Tennessee. Bilko's plans for Lumpkin and his platoon's baseball team seem to be in jeopardy when Lumpkin's pitching hand gets injured while working on a jeep. It turns out that Lumpkin can pitch just as well with his other hand.

Bilko talks the New York Yankees into taking a look at Lumpkin. The Yankees like what they see in Lumpkin but Lumpkin has doubts. He can't imagine playing for a team called the Yankees, seeing as how he is from the South. Bilko manages to convince him that the team name is just a name and that the players are all from the South.

Lumpkin signs the contract but when Lulubelle, Lumpkin's girlfriend, finds out about it she puts her foot down and the contract gets torn up.

Notes

Dick Van Dyke plays the part of Lumpkin. This is the first of two episodes in which Dick Van Dyke appeared. The other episode is also from the third season of the show. This is Dick Van Dyke's first screen credit according to IMDb.

Frank Campanella plays the part of the New York Yankees scout. This is the first of three appearances that he made on the show. He played different characters in each of those episodes. The other two episodes were also from the third season of the show.

New York Yankees manager Whitey Ford and New York Yankees baseball players Phil Rizzuto, Yogi Berra, and Gil McDougald appeared in this episode playing themselves. Baseball commentator Red Barber appeared in this episode playing himself.

Thoughts

Colonel Hall does not appear in this episode.

This episode feels a bit rushed but it actually has an epilogue, unlike many episodes of the show which end abruptly.

This was a fun watch but I didn't think it was great. It was a little too predictable. It was fun to see Dick Van Dyke in such an early role in his career but he was basically hiding behind the southern accent that he adopted for this role.